Saudi King Abdullah repeatedly urged the United States to attack Iran’s nuclear program and China directed cyberattacks on the United States, according to a vast cache of U.S. diplomatic cables released today in an embarrassing leak that undermines U.S. diplomacy.

The more than 250,000 documents, given to five media groups by the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks, provide candid views of foreign leaders and sensitive information on terrorism and nuclear proliferation filed by U.S. diplomats, according to The New York Times.

Among the revelations in Britain’s Guardian newspaper, one of the news organizations who received an advance look at the documents, King Abdullah is reported to have “frequently exhorted the U.S. to attack Iran to put an end to its nuclear weapons program,” one cable said.

The WikiLeaks documents also show Defense Secretary Robert Gates believes any military strike on Iran would only delay its pursuit of a nuclear weapon by one to three years, the Times reported on its website on Sunday.

The leaked documents, the majority of which are from the last three years, also disclose U.S. allegations that China’s Politburo directed an intrusion into Google’s computer systems, part of a coordinated campaign of computer sabotage carried out by Chinese government operatives, private security experts and Internet outlaws, the New York Times reported.

The newspaper said many of the cables name diplomats’ confidential sources, from foreign lawmakers and military officers to human rights activists and journalists, often with a warning: “Please protect” or “Strictly protect.”

The White House condemned the release of the documents, saying they could compromise private discussions with foreign governments and leaders and that their disclosure could “could deeply impact not only U.S. foreign policy interests but those of our allies and friends around the world.”

“To be clear — such disclosures put at risk our diplomats, intelligence professionals, and people around the world who come to the United States for assistance in promoting democracy and open government,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in a written statement.

“By releasing stolen and classified documents, WikiLeaks has put at risk not only the cause of human rights but also the lives and work of these individuals,” he said. “We condemn in the strongest terms the unauthorized disclosure of classified documents and sensitive national security information.”

The pending documents release had been widely reported for more than a week and expected on Sunday.

The U.S. government, which was informed in advance of the contents, has contacted governments around the world, including in Russia, Europe and the Middle East, to try to limit damage.

Among the disclosures reported by The New York Times were allegations that Chinese operatives have broken into American government computers and those of Western allies, the Dalai Lama and American businesses since 2002.

The newspaper also reported that documents report that Saudi donors remain chief financiers of Sunni militant groups like Al Qaeda, and the tiny Persian Gulf state of Qatar, a generous host to the American military for years, was the “worst in the region” in counterterrorism efforts, according to a State Department cable last December.